Halcyon
by Sorida
Summary: Sometimes, Miko knows exactly what to say and when to say it. Sometimes, she doesn't have to say a word. In which Bumblebee and Miko communicate in the only way they can: music.


_**Summary: Miko takes the time to ask Bulkhead a few questions about his teammates. She wasn't expecting a jam session with Bumblebee. After learning about his secret talent, she just has to help the musician in need. No singer should ever be silenced.**_

_**A/N: There aren't enough fics on here with Bee/human interaction beyond Raf and Jack. While they are seen with Bee more often, I thought Miko deserved a chance to get to know him a bit more. Their relationship isn't really developed in the show and I thought it would be fun to try out their dynamic. The girl who talks too much and the 'bot who can't: challenge accepted!**_

_**This was inspired by a video on YouTube using the song Halcyon by Owl City for a Bee AMV called "Bumblebee's Theme Song". At least, I think that's its name. :3**_

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"So Bulkhead, has Ratchet ever had fun?" The large dark green bot gave his charge an incredulous look.

"Excuse me?" he asked, wanting clarification on the question. Miko sighed as she hung upside-down on the couch, legs draped over the back cushion.

"You know, do stuff besides all that medical mumbo-jumbo and actually loosen up for once?" She tilted her head towards Bulkhead, smiling. "I don't really imagine him as a party 'bot, but..." She trailed off, raising her eyebrows suggestively. Bulkhead sighed.

"Miko, you know I'm not comfortable giving out that kind of information. That's personal stuff. If you want to find out, ask him for yourself." As an afterthought, he added, "Besides, I don't feel like facing the Wrench of Doom anytime in the near future."

"Fine..." Miko huffed, sliding into a regular sitting position. She crossed her arms and slouched back into the cushions, staring at the small TV with annoyance. A moment of silence passed between the two. Bulkhead began to relax, but stiffened at the sight of Miko's "Aha!" face. "Have you ever seen Optimus dance?"

"Um, no...he's a Prime. He doesn't really do that stuff..." Bulkhead scratched the back of his helm. How many more questions did the girl have? He answered his own question with "an infinite amount". Her next question caught him completely off-guard.

"What did Bumblebee do for fun?"

He froze, trying to process the question. "Wh-what?" he sputtered.

"Bee, what did he do?" she asked again. Miko stood up and walked over to the railing, gazing into Bulkhead's optics. "He's the youngest one, right? He's got to have some kind of hobbie or silly quirk. I'm not asking for anything embarrassing, just something he does for his own enjoyment."

"If that's what you wanted to know, why don't you go ask him?" Bulkhead asked back. He had a feeling Bee might be somewhat uncomfortable with this question. Considering what the kid used to do, his concern made sense. Plus, Miko wasn't the best secret keeper in the world. However, the curiosity in her eyes was genuinely innocent. He could tell that she just wanted to learn more about them rather than exploit the information she gained.

"Are you kidding? I can't understand "beep boop bleep" talk! Only Raf can do that and I don't even get how he does! It all sounds like jibberish," she remarked, leaning against the railing.

"Well, he's using Cybertronian shorthand. It took some of the other Autobots a while to understand him. It's a hard language to learn."

"So it IS a language, not just some random mumbo-jumbo he made up..." Miko muttered to herself. "Could you be my translator?"

"I-I um...well," Bulkhead stuttered, slightly taken aback by the request. "Uh..." At that moment, a certain yellow muscle car pulled into the base. Raf jumped out of the passenger seat before his guardian began his transformation sequence.

"Hi Bulkhead, hi Miko," Raf greeted happily from under the catwalk. Bumblebee emitted a few high pitched tones that Miko took as his greeting.

"Hey Raf, Bee," she replied. Before Bulkhead could speak, she asked, "Bee, what did you do for fun back on Cybertron?" Bulkhead let out a soft groan. Sometimes, he wished Miko wasn't so blunt.

Bumblebee was surprised, but understanding. He wanted to know more about the kids, so it was only natural that they wanted to learn more about him. But...what did he do for fun? Those days seemed so long ago, almost as if he lived an entirely different life. His memories were split into two categories: pre-Tyger Pax and post-Tyger Pax. Searching his memory banks, he stumbled upon an old hobby. It used to annoy the bots that knew him too well and keep the other entertained. He loved it so much, so why had it taken Miko to help him remember the passion?

The answer came far too quickly: Tyger Pax.

"Bee, are you ok?" The voice of his charge brought him out of his reverie. Sheepishly, he beeped out a garbled apology before turning his attention to Miko.

Unprepared for Bee's answer, Miko barely caught the end of the familiar whirs and whistles the scout emitted. Jumping slightly, she asked, "Um...what did he say?"

Raf decided to answer. "He said 'As a sparkling, I used to...sing?' Bee, I didn't know you could sing!" The boy smiled up at his guardian. "I bet you're really good!"

"Yeah, he was pretty good," Bulkhead commented. His expression became melancholy and before he could hide it, Bee caught on. With a low tone, he waved off the topic and began walking towards his room.

"Bee, what's wrong?" Raf called after the yellow mech. After a few quick beeps, he nodded and climbed the stairs to the top of the catwalk. Standing next to Miko, he said, "He doesn't want to talk about it."

"I shouldn't have said anything," Bulkhead remarked. "He's still sensitive about losing his voice. Once he's ready to come out, I'll apologize." Miko's head perked up.

"Lost his voice...that's it!" she shouted. She leapt over to the stairs and descended two at a time.

"Miko, where are you going?" Raf asked from behind the banister.

"I know why Bee's upset and I'm gonna help him get through it!" she exclaimed, heading in the direction of (what she assumed was) Bumblebee's room. Ignoring Bulkhead's protests, she snuck down the empty hallway. After knocking on about ten different doors (one of which contained a temperamental medic), she finally got the response she was looking for. A short pitch rang out of the door she tried. Taking it as an invitation to enter, she put her weight against the sheet of metal. Unfortunately, it was at least three times as big as she was. Grunting in frustration, she crossed her arms and pouted.

"I can't get in, so can you open the door before I get Bulkhead to open it?" It slowly swung inwards, revealing the slightly distressed scout. With a beep of surprise (that was happening a lot today, he mused), Bee gazed questioningly at Miko. He let out a few more inquisitive beeps. They were nonsensical and translated to nothing, but he hoped that the human could read his tone.

"Ok, just let me explain," Miko said. "I...I think I understand why you're upset." To her surprise, Bumblebee nodded and moved his servo in a circular motion. He wanted her to continue. "You're like me, a musician, and when something happens to our music, we don't like it. A few years ago, I broke my wrist and I couldn't play my guitar for months. It drove me insane! I need to make music and I do that through an instrument.

"Bumblebee, you are a singer and singers need their voice. Your voice is who you are, it's everything to you. I know you lost and I don't know how...but I know it's painful for you. You can't make your music and it's frustrating and unfair and...and...it's sad..." Miko paused, chancing a glance up at the silenced mech. What she saw wasn't a warrior or a battle-hardened soldier. She saw a kid, lost in something far bigger than him. She saw a hint of herself during her silent period, the sadness of never being able to create something wholly yours and melodic. But Bumblebee's silence would last (possibly) forever and he knew it. This wasn't like healing a broken bone, this was far greater. Nobody would ever hear Bumblebee's voice again unless some miracle happened.

But that didn't really mean he couldn't sing.

When she first met the youngest Autobot, she thought his beeps sounded familiar. She heard every bleep and bloop as a note, another string on her guitar. Everything sounded like a song. His speech sounded like the familiar pattern of notes on a staff. The tones would rise and fall in rhythm, pushed forward by a steady, internal tempo.

That's what set him apart from the others. There was something else for him to live for. All the Autobots fought to protect what they knew and loved. They fought for their charges and for an adopted world. Each was driven by their centers.

There was a beat inside of Bumblebee, a muse that could not be contained. He saw the world as any artist did, regarded the universe with the eye of immortals and the wonder of a child. Out of all the Autobots, he allowed himself to be truly happy. When he smiled, it always reached his optics. When he laughed, it lit up the room. When he was happy, it was infectious. He was there to make others happy again, to see a world beyond the war. He was altruistic, pushing aside his trauma for the good of his teammates. He was always prepared to make the sacrifice play. He'd done so much for everybody, humans included.

It was time for Miko to pay him back.

"Bumblebee," she started, determination overtaking any lingering doubts she had, "you can still sing, even without a voice." The yellow mech gave a startled whir and a quizzical expression, but motioned for her to continue. "Just take a minute and listen to yourself talk. What do you hear? As a musician, what do you hear?"

Bumblebee took a small step backwards as he thought over Miko's questions. His form of communication was through Cybertronian shorthand. It was meant to be a code, straight-forward and precise. His beeps conveyed a message and nothing else. Every sound byte was carefully calculated as they were melded together to create a comprehensible sentence. If he wanted to be interpreted correctly, then there was no room for error.

…Or emotion.

He'd been working on that, trying to sound less like a drone and more like a mech. Despite his hard work, nothing he tried would ever come close to conveying his emotions. He took to body language and was now pretty good at reading it as well. He could always see the slight hunch in his leader's back struts or the perpetual grimace that marred the medic's faceplates. He noticed the stiffness of Arcee's wing-like protrusions (they weren't full-fledged "wings" like his) and Bulkhead's ever shifting gaze. He saw the nearly invisible lines of stress below Raf's eyes, the fear creeping into Miko's pupils and the way Jack stood a little taller. Everyone had another story behind their masks. He was no exception. The others knew how to run. He knew how to hide.

No, that was beside the point. He looked down at the teenager in front of his pedes. Her gaze was encouraging. Miko wanted him to understand something, something about his monotonous codes. But what? She asked him to listen…but to what? For that matter, how?

Miko watched as Bumblebee slouched over with a mechanical sigh. He shook his helm and let out a low groan. Ok, if Bee couldn't hear it, she'd just have to provide an example or something. It was a good thing she already had an idea.

"Fine, I guess I'll have to show you," she said, shifting her weight to one leg while crossing her arms. "Can I come in?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. The scout backed away and held the door open. He gestured with his free servo to come in. After walking through the door, the grey metal slid shut behind her. Immediately, Miko whipped out her iPod and scrolled through her songs.

"You're lucky this is still in my library," Miko mumbled under her breath as she searched for a specific song. "Have you ever heard of Owl City?"

Bee whirred in confusion before nodding his head.

"Well, he works with electronic music," Miko continued. "There's one song I have that wasn't released on an album." She turned up the volume on the built-in speakers. "I think you'll like it." A few quick tones reverberated through the room.

"_Hey, if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music. Am I right?"_

Bee's optics widened while Miko's smirk grew. He heard the code, but it was complete jibberish! Nothing made sense…yet it created something. He heard happiness, anger; everything. It was all contained in a few nonsensical words. They weren't even words. It was music.

And then he heard it.

He looked at Miko with understanding and let out a beep. It didn't mean anything, yet it meant the whole world. He let out a few more tentative tones, letting them rise and fall with an internal beat. Albeit slowly, he repeated the melody Miko had played seconds before. With a smile, he continued deciphering the song. The pitches gained momentum, building up to the song's original tempo until Bumblebee could replicate it with ease.

Straightening his posture, he went through the tune once more. He couldn't help himself from swaying with the beat, letting everything out in the two minute song. Bouncing on his pedes, he smiled at Miko. She smiled back as he let out a long, harmonious whistle. The youngling rushed out of the room, excitement following in his wake. Miko walked up to the doorframe and casually leaned against the cold metal. For the first time, she understood Bumblebee's words without Raf to translate. They spoke a language without words.

She had given Bumblebee his voice.

With a triumphant smile, she whispered her reply to the wandering melody.

"You're welcome."

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_**A/N: Writing got wonky towards the end. Sorry 'bout that. :3 Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it!**_


End file.
